Nothing to Bury
by TygerTygerCrimsonTears
Summary: Lisbon prepares to go on the final hunt for Red John. Companion to my story Swimming in Red. T for character death.


**[Lisbon's POV. You betcha.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Mentalist, Lorelei would be taken care of by Lisbon while Cho and Rigsby were on lookout when they hid the body.]**

Lisbon trudged up the stairs to the attic, swallowing hard as she knocked on the heavy door. Listening closely, she heard the grunt of Jane granting her permission to enter.

Teresa coughed slightly when she entered the duasty "man-cave," stepping over to stand behind Jane, who was staring out the window with his teacup placed in front of him.

"You okay, Jane?" she asked, trying to sound lighter than she knew either of them felt.

"Never better." He replied, just as she knew he would.

"It's time to go." she informed him.

Jane seemed to give an almost unnoticeabl nod as he stood up, turning to face Lisbon. "I know." he said softly.

"Let's get ou-"

"Thank you Lisbon," Jane interrupted. "For everything."

"Erm... You're welcome..." Lisbon shifted on her feet, wondering where this could possibly be going.

Jane took another small step towards her. "I'm glad this is all almost over." he sighed.

"Of course you are." Lisbon crossed her arms. "It's Red John, Jane. You've been dreaming of this for eleven years..." she trailed off, finally looking at his sea green eyes.

"That's not why, and I think you know it." his voice was nearly in a whisper, and he placed a hand softly on her elbow. She gulped. "I can finally move on, Teresa."

And before she knew what was happening, they were kissing. It was a gentle, soft embrace, and Lisbon felt...nice. There really was no other word for it than "nice." But soon, she came to her senses, pulling back and pushing Jane away as firmly as she could without seeming offensive.

"We can't do this." she whispered, staring into those cerulean blue eyes. She tried to ignore Jane's hurt look, turning away. "We just..._can't."_

"Sorry, Lisbon. I should've...uh..." he cleared his throat, speaking with a strange politeness that Lisbon never expected to hear coming from him, "asked first."

She shrugged in an "it's all right" manner.

As she started towards the attic doors, she turned back, just for a moment. "Jane, when all this settles down...I think I'd be ready."

As she was shuttng the door, she heard Jane's voice calling after her, "I'd like that."

**Xxxx**

"Cho, take Rigsby and Jane." Lisbon's voice was cold, authoratative, completely different than the voice she had just used with Jane in the attic. She tried to avoid Jane's gaze, as she was sure she'd never be able to keep her blush (though her blush was hardly noticeable, there was still a debate going on throughout the Serious Crimes Unit whether to call it "The Jane Bush" or "Lisbon's Way") under control.

"Van Pelt, you're with me." she nodded at the red head agent.

And, as they were heading down the hallway, she finally made eye contact with Jane. He winked a happy wink, overladen with sadness, and Lisbon gave a small smile, the blush she was wishing against appearing.

_Everything'll be perfect in the morning,_she reminded herself. _Simply perfect._

(Maybe not for her, and maybe not for Jane, certainly not for Van Pelt or Rigsby or Cho.

But maybe there was someone out there who would have a good day tomorrow, and there would be others besides her not having any more tomorrows...)

**Xxxx**

"Let's go catch us a killer," Lisbon muttered under her breath as she and Van Pelt pulled out of the parking lot._  
_

As they drove down the main streets, Lisbon could see Van Pelt studying her out of the coner of her eye. Teresa shifted uncomfortably, wondering if the younger agent could tell that Lisbon was anticapting this arrest more than any other of the members of the team, except maybe Jane.

And so, Lisbon was relived whn hey swung into the rural roads and Van Pelt turned her gaze away. She shifted in her seat again and focused on the road in front of her, reminding herself not to clench the steering wheel to death.

As she stared straight ahead,somthing took her notice out of the corner of her eye. It was a truck, a blood-red truck. She trieto swerve, tried _so hard _to swerve, but... It really was no ue.

She braced herself as the impact came, and when it did the windshielshattered, spraying glass all over her. Lisbon jerked sideways, banging her head on the dashboard. _I'll be okay.._ she tol herself, black and red dots floating in ront of her eyes. _I've be in wors..._

She was struggling to unbuckle her seatbelt in the cramped space, when the second impact came.

She flew out of her half unbuckled seatbelt and fell to the gfloor, or it may have been the ceiling, she didn't know. And, finally, he passed out just in time to not feel the power line collapse and land on the car, crushing her body, then setting it on fire so horribly that they could find nothing to bury.

**[Is it just me or was that really lame. xD]**


End file.
